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UN Security Council experts discuss Russia’s proposal on Syria chemical probe — chairman

In late January, Russia put forward an initiative to establish an independent mechanism to investigate chemical weapons attacks in Syria

UN, February 2. /TASS/. A draft Russian-backed resolution on setting up a new body to investigate chemical attacks in Syria is currently being discussed by the UN Security Council at the expert level, the council’s chairman said on Thursday.

"Regarding the chemical weapons issue, differences remain between SC members. There is a draft resolution submitted by Russians and is being currently discussed by the experts," said Kuwait envoy Mansour Al-Otaibi, whose country holds the council’s rotating presidency this month.

On January 23, Russia called a United Nations Security Council meeting, putting forward an initiative to establish an independent mechanism to investigate chemical weapons attacks in Syria, which would also involve the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and would replace the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) that ceased to exist in late 2017 as UN Security Council member states had failed to agree on extending its mandate. However, Washington spoke out against this initiative.

Other members, including Bolivia, Kazakhstan, China and France said they were ready to study the proposal.